Poems from Ignition Point
by Gary Beck

 

Velocity

 

In a very short time

we left horses behind

using motor power

to get from place to place.

Although we moved faster,

we didn't get smarter

and used motor power

to kill more and more of us,

as well as the land

that nurtured us.

If the past is a pattern,

we'll move so fast

we'll leave nothing behind.

 

 

Recurrence II

 

Commotion

attracts a crowd,

some hoping for disaster

to feast on blood, suffering,

but most are horrified

sensitive to the agonies

of innocent victims,

occurring more often

in our troubled land.

 

 

Suffusion

 

We no longer rise at dawn,

do the chores, till the fields,

yet we still suffer

indignities

that nature provides,

flood, drought, tornado,

disrupting fragile lives

that sit up late each night

glued to the television set

accepting programming

determining behavior,

social, economic,

moral, political,

until we no longer know

right from wrong.

 

 

Losses

 

Spring migration

and the warblers head north

passing through Bryant Park

mostly unnoticed,

unaware

that climate change,

loss of forest,

concrete,

will further reduce

diminishing habitat.

 

 

Ongoing Events

 

Human events

            perplex

       most of us,

who care to comprehend

that things happen

with or without

            consent,

       affecting us

            differently,

       some thriving,

       some surviving,

       some perishing,

            determined

                      by fate,

coincidence,

       ill luck,

human contrivances

supplementing

nature's afflictions.

 

Rate this poetry.

Copyright is reserved by the author. Please do not reproduce any part of this article without consent.